Damn, dirty protesters: Now, I'm not one to say that the police aren't entitled to enforce order in NYC during the convention. Lord knows the cops there have reasons enough to be a touch jittery, but one method they're using caught my eye:

Donna Lieberman, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said police have unveiled three tactics this week that have raised concerns: quick deployment of orange netting to encircle protesters, undercover scooter patrols and widely used bicycle officers.

Now, again, I'm all for passive restraint of unruly muck-rakers, but doesn't this tactic seem to smack of something, oh, I dunno, slightly primitive?